Lost
by Maget646
Summary: What could have happened at the end of season 1 had Oliver been in time to save Laurel instead of Tommy. (Rated T just in case!)
1. Chapter 1

**Before you start, I just want to let you know that I am terrible at finishing stories. Enjoy!**

"Laurel!" Oliver's heart stopped as he watched the building in front of him collapse, with the detective hysterically struggling against the girl behind him, trying to run into crumbling structure.

"Laurel!" he yelled again for seemingly no reason, tears streaking down his face as he ran by the pair of sobbing humans in his hood, in order to look for her. Oliver couldn't lose her, not after finally getting her back. Laurel couldn't die now, not after everything that they had been through.

Sifting through the rubble he kept calling her name and his way towards what used to be her office. As he got closer he turned off his voice distorter not taking a breath to continue calling her name.

There was no trace of Laurels office when he reached there, the walls around it had been knocked down and Oliver was surprised that the ceiling was still above it. There were sparks flying everywhere, rubble covered everything and a fine layer of dust still lingered in the air.

At that moment Oliver began questioning his priorities once again. Forgetting momentarily the reasoning he had for becoming the vigilante in the first place. The reasoning he had for putting it before his family, friends and love. As his breathing slowed he began to remember how Laurel believed in helping the small, defending the week. So much so she got herself nearly killed on multiple occasions…ironically why he was looking amongst the rubble of her workplace looking for her.

All of a sudden he heard a groan come from the rubble. Oliver's head whipped up, forgetting everything he was thinking about he began searching.

"Laurel!" He yelled climbing of the chunks of cement.

"Laurel?" Yet he heard nothing.

"Laurel sweetie! I need you to keep making noise"

But he heard nothing but silence.

"Laurel I need you to keep talking so I can find you" He tried again, trying to say it as calmly as possible, but still only the sounds of chaos outside rang through the building. Ollie's eyes shifted back and forth searching for any hint of movement.

"Please Laurel." He whispered, as tears began to flow from his eyes.

CLANG! A large noise of metal being hit filled the space.

CLANG! Again.

Oliver moved faster than he had when he was fighting Malcolm less than an hour ago. Carefully moving rocks from the origin of the sound, not wanting to accidentally have them collapse on the person trapped beneath the pile. As he removed a rock he found laurels hand with a piece of rock in it slamming into the side of a desk.

Taking the rock out of her hand, Ollie squeezed it finally breathing a sigh of relief as it squeezed back.

Laurel had somehow managed to pull a desk over her head and torso before the building had collapsed, miraculously saving her from the falling debris.

The rest of her body was shielded by a rock that fortunately didn't trap her as Oliver wasn't sure of his ability to move it by himself. So he quickly began to clear the small pieces of rubber that slit under the desk near her face.

"Oh thank God!" He breathed as Laurel opened her eyes. Laurels face had a couple scratches but nothing that wouldn't heal in a couple of weeks. She had made it virtually unscathed and Oliver felt as if he had been blessed by an angel.

"Ollie" Laurel smiled, having thought she was going to die only moments ago couldn't grasp the joy she felt at being met by the face of someone who had both infuriated and infatuated her over the last couple months.

Oliver leaned over capturing his lips with hers, chastely but passionately. Resting his head on her forehead he sighed "I thought I lost you"

Laurel Chuckled at the irony as she said "I thought I was lost."

Helping her to her feet, he then lifted her bridal style carrying her out the building. His pace started slow as he didn't want to jostle Laurel too much in case something was broken. However, when he heard the building start to creak and crack he knew it was about to collapse and it was all he could do to concentrate on getting her out of the building as quickly as possible

Oliver and Laurel bursted out of the side door of the building just in time for it collapse behind them. Sending brick, concrete and metal at the couple; forcing them forward and tossing them to the ground carelessly.

Hitting the ground hard, Ollie did his best to shield Laurel from the flying pieces of the building. The two rolled onto their backs, coughing and hacking while their bodies searched for air among the dust,

Once Oliver could breathe again he looked over at Laurel who had lost consciousness, most likely because of everything her body had suffered in the last hour. Luckily she was still breathing. All Oliver could do was pick her up and bring her to the group of sobbing individuals at the front of the building.

As he walked over to weir the detective lied on the ground he saw his best friend facing away from the crumbled structure, his shoulders shaking Ollie picked up his pace knowing Laurel needed a hospital badly and knowing that to expect a doctor to be available right away was foolish.

"Mr Merlyn!" The voice distorted hood yelled.

The look of surprise and joy on Tommy's face couldn't express what Oliver knew that he felt when the man saw the two of them coming.

"She needs a hospital!" he said, stating the obvious. Handing her over Ollie took one last look at her putting his hand on her forehead before running to his bike. Knowing the faster he got changed the faster he could get to the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

Weaving through all the rubble on his motorbike, tears ran down Oliver's face. He couldn't remember being that scared before. Also Laurel had seen him in his vigilante costume and that would for sure affect their relationship drastically. But he couldn't think about that right now.

As Oliver made his way past everyone he couldn't help becoming conflicted. Everyone around him needed help in one way or another; however, he couldn't concentrate until he knew that Laurel was safe.

When Oliver reached Verdenant, Felicity and Diggle were waiting for him.

"Oliver, man, you okay?| Diggle asked as Oliver started throwing his stuff down.

"I've got to get to the hospital." He mumbled under his breath, as tears started falling across his face. His shoulders began to shake and he dropped to his knees while he tried to pull himself together.

Unable to hear what the distressed billionaire had mumbled the other two didn't quite know how to react to the situation in front of them. Having never seen Ollie cry anything other than tears of pain Diggle took the lead.

"Felicity," he said calmly "could you go upstairs and make Oliver a drink?"

"With what?" She responded not wanting to leave her clearly distressed friend. "All the alcohol bottles were smashed in the quake."

"I'm sure _one_ survived" He stressed "go search for it and don't come back until you have something string here for our friend" Knowing Oliver would want as few people to see him like this as possible.

When Felicity left, Digg kneeled down next to his friend. Putting a hand on his shoulder Oliver proceeded to collapse against his friend, shoulders still shaking.

Trying to walk around the scattered eggshells that were the usually strong man's feelings Digg proceeded to ask a question that he wasn't sure he wanted an answer too

"Is Laurel…" he stopped short not actually wanting to finish the sentence.

"No." Oliver sobbed, "But she was so close and I had to give her to Tommy to take to the hospital."

"That's great! You got to her in time!" Diggle said trying to lift Oliver's spirits. Knowing the real problem was something deeper.

"I can't do it. I can't do both. Protect my loved ones and be this." Oliver rambled frustrated. "If I don't protect the city, I can't protect the ones I love… But I can't protect them and the city."

As Oliver began to hyperventilate, Diggle got up and began searching for a paper bag or something to help regulate his breathing.

"I should have been there, stopped her from going into that building" Oliver sobbed as he tried to gain control of his breathing.

"No!" Diggle said firmly, abandoning his search. "If you didn't stop Malcolm imagine how many more people would have died. You saved half a city Oliver! Besides, Laurel is a big girl. She does things on her own accord, makes her own decisions. This is not your fault!" He said as he dropped in front of Oliver, putting both of his hands on his shoulders. "This is not your fault. You have to let people be accountable for their own actions. Okay?"

"Okay?" He repeated getting Oliver to look him in the eyes.

"Okay." Oliver repeated. Understanding Digg's logi, but not liking the conclusion.

"Now get dressed." Diggle said standing up, "and go get your girl!"

Ollie got up quickly and started changing swiftly, heading up the stairs to go to the hospital. Taking the tumbler of whiskey that Felicity had scrounged up, out of her hands on the way out.

"What just happened." Felicity said frozen on the stairs.

"What do you mean" said Digg throwing his hands in the air.

"Our big bad archer was just crying…what did you say to him?"

"No he wasn't." Diggle said, teasing the girl as he passed her on the stairs.

"I'm so confused" Felicity whined, following Diggle up the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

When Oliver walked into the E.R. it was complete Chaos. Not sure what to do he began searching the room for Tommy's face, knowing that he probably wouldn't have gotten in. Finally he gave in and asked the very busy receptionist if she knew anything about Laurel Lance.

"Are you family?" she asked dismissively. Oliver paused before confidently responding confidently.

"Yes I'm her brother." The woman looked him up and down sceptically before looking up the room number.

"Follow me. Quickly!" She took off at a pace that practically had Oliver jogging behind her "She had a severe concussion and a lot of lung damage that we are treating. Your father can tell you about it. As you can see we are swamped. The Hospital on the other side of town collapsed in the quake. She's room 219." She wrapped up pointing him down a hall that had several people lying on gurney's in the hallway.

When he turned around she was half way down the hall back to the E.R.

He stood their momentarily, trying to build up the courage to face the detective before going down the hallways towards her room. Despite his rush to get to Laurel he entered the room rather slowly.

The moment he was all the way in though, Quentin, who was sitting on a chair beside the solitary bed in the room, whipped his head up.

"How did you get in?" He asked

"I told the girl I was her brother." Oliver responded co-operatively.

"Laurel has a lot of brothers today" Tommy said leaning against the wall on the other side of the room.

Ollie smiled slightly at the situation; both men suddenly in a platonic relationship with the girl.

"How is she doing?" He asked.

"The doctors say she's going to be just fine, which is great considering she was squashed by a building." The detective started. "She's got 2 broken ribs and concussion. But the real worry is the amount of dust and debris that she inhaled. However, they say that's nowhere near as bad as it could've been. We're just waiting for her to wake up now."

"Good." Ollie said, slightly facing the wall as he momentarily let his guard down in relief.

"How'd you find out" The detective asked, immediately sensing the man's weakness, switching to interrogation mode.

"What?" Oliver said, not expecting the question.

"How did you know Laurel was in the hospital?" He stated again, standing up to make himself more intimidating.

"I called him." Tommy interrupted, saving Oliver from weaving a new mess of lies.

"Really?" Quentin said sceptically, knowing the negative relationship that had formed between the billionaires. The one his daughter had created.

"Yeah." Tommy said assuredly, "I figured Laurel would want him here… considering" shuddering as he referenced the newly formed relationship. Obviously still not ready to re-experience the scene he had just recently witnessed. Yeah he was thankful for everything Oliver had done for him in the last couple hours, but Laurel was the love of his life and it was hard to let that go.

"Thanks again." Oliver said backing up his story, looking at the ground. He knew how hard that was for Tommy to do and he felt guilty. Not guilty enough to give up what he had taken from the friend, but still guilty enough to not be able to look him in the eye.

"Yes, well that's very big of you." The detective said, slightly embarrassed by the assumption that the two couldn't be civil to one another for the sake of his daughter. "I'm going to go see if there's anywhere I get a coffee, anyone else want one?"

"No thanks." Oliver said, not wanting to leave Laurel until she woke up.

"I'm actually going to go." Tommy said. "You know, be there when the police come with their search warrant and everything."

"I'll walk you out." The detective felt sorry for the billionaire. He had lost almost everything in less than a week; the girl, his family and the city was sure to take his inheritance away, all because he had a lousy dad. "Maybe I can offer you some advice."

"Tommy" Oliver turned around before the two left the room "if there's anything I can do, let me know."

"Just, text me when she wakes up." he stated simply.

"Okay." Oliver said, sending his old friend a comforting smile.

When the two men left the room, it was almost completely silent except for the sound of oxygen being pumped. Finally turning around Ollie took Laurel in for the first time since he had arrived.

She was dressed in a hospital gown, resting peacefully on a twin sized bed. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have been able to take the time to clean all the dirt off of her. There were several wires attached to her, monitoring her vitals, an I.V. drip in her arm and oxygen sticking out of her nose. Small bruises covered her arms and presumably the rest of her body, but, just as he had noticed back in the crumbling legal aid office, nothing that was going to scar, at least not physically.

Despite how fragile everything made her look she was still as beautiful as ever. Oliver walked over and sat down in the chair beside her, grabbing her hand in his. Bringing it up to his lips he kissed it, simultaneously asking her to wake up. He knew the doctors said she was going to be okay, but he would be much more relieved to see it for himself.

As if the world had finally decided to be on his side for once, the girl's eyes fluttered open minutes later, moving around the room, disoriented.

"Hey you." He smiled when her eyes finally reached his. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was slapped in the face with a slab of concrete." She said, her voice incredibly raspy.

"Well that's a bit of an overstatement." He joked lightly, "It was more like a bunch of little pieces."

As Laurel laughed she winced, clearly in pain.

"The doctors say you've broken a couple of ribs"

"Great!" She moaned gruffly. "and the reason I sound like I've been smoking a pack a day for 30 years is?"

"My best bet is all the dust you ended up swallowing."

"Okay." She said staring up at the ceiling. All of a sudden Ollie knew what was coming next.

"And the reason I feel like I saw you in the suit of the vigilante is because of the concussion?" She asked trying to look the man in the eyes.

He looked back at her and thought about lying to her.

"Right?" She asked. But then again, where would that leave him.

"Laurel!" her dads voice broke the silence, dropping his coffee cup in the doorway and rushing to his daughters bedside.

"Oh thank God!" He said putting a hand on her forehead to make sure it was real.

The joy was short lived though as he immediately began scolding her, "What were you thinking! I told you to get out of there. What was so important-"

"Dad!" Laurel said. Trying to stop the long lecture she knew was only going to increase her pounding headache.

"NO seriously Laurel, You need to hear this!" The detective continued.

"I'm going to go find a mop." Oliver said bowing out before he was caught in the crossfire of what was sure to become World War III.

"I'll be right back." He said kissing her on the forehead and leaving the room.

Walking down the Hall he Pulled out his phone texting Tommy

"_She's awake! Her and her dad are already at each other's throats about the whole thing."_


End file.
